Florentino Pérez and Enrique Riquelme have already exercised their right to vote in the elections for the presidency of Real Madrid, which are being held this Sunday at the Ciudad Deportiva de Valdebebas.
The electoral day began at 9:00 AM and the polls will remain open until 8:00 PM at the Pabellón de Baloncesto de la Ciudad Real Madrid. According to the information published, Florentino Pérez was one of the first to vote, around 10:00 AM, accompanied by vice-president Eduardo Fernández de Blas.
First elections with ballot boxes since 2006
The vote has a special symbolic value for madridismo. The club had not held competitive presidential elections since 2006, when Ramón Calderón was elected president in elections in which Juan Palacios, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, Lorenzo Sanz, and Arturo Baldasano also participated.
Since his return to the presidency in 2009, Florentino Pérez had always been re-elected without opposition. The candidacy of Enrique Riquelme, an entrepreneur from Alicante and president of the energy group Cox, breaks that dynamic and gives members a direct choice between two club projects.
Who can vote
Members over the age of majority, with at least one year of uninterrupted membership and who are on the electoral roll, are called to vote. Real Madrid has around 100,000 members, although it is estimated that about 70,000 meet the requirements to participate in the vote.
Turnout is one of the big unknowns of the day. In the last elections with ballot boxes, in 2006, 27,958 members voted, which represented 39.55% of the electoral roll.
Continuity versus change
Florentino Pérez comes to the vote as the incumbent president and with a project focused on the continuity of his tenure at the helm of the club, marked by the economic transformation of the entity, the renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu, and the sporting successes achieved during his mandates.
Riquelme has presented the election as an opportunity to open a new era, with messages focused on transparency, the defense of the club model owned by its members, and greater internal participation in strategic decisions.
Signings and bench, keys to the campaign
The campaign has been marked by sporting promises. In Florentino Pérez's circle, the return of José Mourinho to the bench has been positioned as one of the main attractions, as well as names like Konaté or Dumfries and the possibility of a major market operation.
Riquelme, for his part, has linked his candidacy to high-impact signings such as Erling Haaland and Rodri, in addition to proposing the arrival of Jürgen Klopp as coach. Some of these proposals have generated debate during the campaign, especially after Klopp's entourage ruled out his immediate return to the dugouts.
A decisive day for the club's future
Real Madrid members will decide this Sunday whether to maintain Florentino Pérez's project or to opt for Enrique Riquelme's alternative. The vote will define not only the club's presidency but also its institutional, sporting, and economic direction for the coming years.
The Electoral Board plans to provide participation data during the day, before the polls close at 8:00 PM. From that moment on, the count will begin, which will determine who presides over Real Madrid after an election that is already historic for returning the ballot boxes to the white club two decades later.